Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Nervous Accomplice
Foreword
Dr. Joseph W. Spelman, the state pathologist of Vermont and an associate professor in pathology at the University of Vermont, is a shrewd, cautious, level-headed investigator. He is a member of a group which, unfortunately, is all too small, a group made up of men who by training, aptitude and temperament are qualified to investigate homicides in a scientific manner, determining the cause and the time of death. What these men can discover by examining a dead body is startling to those who haven’t realized the strides made by science in the field of forensic medicine.
Dr. Spelman, like Dr. Richard Ford, head of the Harvard School of Legal Medicine and medical examiner in Boston, has spent a great deal of time preparing a collection of colored slides showing various aspects of deaths due to violence.
These men have amassed thousands of such slides, covering unusual gunshot wounds, the typical pattern of powder tattooing, wounds of exit and wounds of entrance, cases where murder was perpetrated under such circumstances that it appeared to be suicide, cases where suicides would almost certainly have been branded the victims of murder by less well-trained investigators.
These colored slides form a constantly increasing reference file which is of inestimable value in the detection of crime, although it may take years before prosecutors generally realize the extent to which their work can be aided by reference to such photographs.
Not only is Dr. Spelman interested in forensic pathology and in the detection of crime, but he has gone further and has devoted a lot of thought to the problem of penology, of punishment, of rehabilitation, of probation and parole.
Those who know Dr. Spelman best have high regard for his unusual abilities in correlating those legislative conflicts which inevitably arise when the modern medical examiner system supplants the older coroner system.
The thing that particularly impresses me about Dr. Spelman, however, is his objective, intellectual perspective. It is hard to tell just what makes for a well-balanced mind. Some men who are experts in one line, whose judgment is perfectly sound in dealing with the highly technical problems with which they are familiar, are likely to have a warped perspective when dealing with problems arising in fields which are strange to them.
This is not the case with Dr. Spelman. He has an alert mind which is remarkably well balanced and he has, what I can only define for want of a better term, intellectual perspective.
A short time ago, a rather remarkable group of men gathered at my ranch in Southern California. These men collectively knew more about murder than all of the fictional detectives in history put together. They were Dr. Richard Ford of Harvard, Dr. Russell Fisher of Baltimore, Dr. Samuel Gerber of Cleveland, Dr. LeMoyne Snyder of Lansing, Michigan, and Dr. Joseph Spelman of Vermont.
We sat up until the small hours of the morning discussing some of the off-the-record facts and the behind-the-scenes backgrounds of some of the famous cases in which these men had participated. (Each one of them had, at one time or another, been connected with cases which made newspaper headlines from coast to coast.)
For some years now, I have been trying, through these forewords and dedications, to make the reading public aware of the importance of forensic medicine and the necessity for greater public appreciation of this branch of medicine. The public should have a better understanding of what can be done by these expert forensic pathologists, who approach the detection of crime armed with well-developed powers of observation and a background of technical knowledge. Some of these men have even gone so far as to become attorneys at law after having secured their degrees as doctors of medicine. All of them have encyclopaedic knowledge of the technique of crime detection.
As it happened, four out of the five men who were gathered at my ranch that night had been the subjects of forewords and dedications.
I had from time to time heard a great deal about Dr. Spelman and had followed his career with interest. What I saw of him that evening interested me even more. I was particularly impressed with his astute appraisals, his sound, sane judgment. He is a quiet man, shy to the point of diffidence, and it is necessary to look beneath the surface in order to recognize his true character. He is competent, forceful, and his thinking is always logical.
So it gives me great pleasure to dedicate this book to my friend:
JOSEPH WORCESTER SPELMAN, M.D.
Erle Stanley Gardner
Cast of Characters
Della Street — As Perry Mason’s confidential secretary, she thought the new client’s novel technique for holding a man might come in handy.
Perry Mason — The famous lawyer expected his client to keep a poker face, but was none too happy with the hand he himself had been dealt.
Sybil Harlan — Mason’s attractive, fiery young client, she felt that no matter how high the price, a husband was a bargain.
George C. Lutts — A stockholder in the Sylvan Glade Development Company, he insisted on dining at seven sharp but was ready to jump aboard the gravy train at any hour.
Herbert Doxey — Although he was Lutts’ son-in-law and secretary of the company, his main concern was his badly sunburned back.
Enright A. Harlan — Sybil’s husband knew a lot about firearms, more about real estate, but not enough about women.
Roxy Claffin — A beautiful divorcée with an almost all-over tan, she was eager to make Harlan more than her business adviser.
Ezekiel Elkins — Another stockholder in Sylvan Glade, he had only an unsupported explanation for his newly acquired black eye.
Paul Drake — While investigating for Mason, he had no time for anything but a hamburger — and a bicarbonate — at his desk, with a dream of filet mignon on the side.
Hamilton Burger — The DA always prepared his case so carefully that there could be no doubt about the verdict — but there always was...
Jerome C. Keddie — A taxicab driver, he remembered his passengers — especially damsels in distress.
Ruth Marvel — A neighbour and confidante of Sybil Harlan, she had utmost faith in her own ability to outwit the DA.
Chapter 1
Della Street, Perry Mason’s confidential secretary, said, “We have a Mrs. Enright A. Harlan in the office who seems to be having domestic troubles.”
Mason jokingly jerked his thumb toward the corridor.
“I know,” Della Street said. “I told her that you didn’t handle divorce cases and she said this wasn’t a divorce case. It was simply a case of domestic difficulties.”
“Not a divorce?” Mason asked.
“That’s what she says.”
“And not an action for separate maintenance?”
“She says not.”
“Then why does she want a lawyer?”
“She said she’d have to explain that in detail. She says she has a scheme she wants to talk to you about.”
“And it’s about a domestic difficulty?”
“That’s right.”
“Did she tell you what kind of domestic difficulty?”
“It seems her husband is cheating.”
“I take it there’s something unusual about this woman, Della, or you wouldn’t have adopted this attitude.”
“What attitude?”
“Wanting me to see her.”
Della Street nodded.
“Why?”
“Perhaps I’d like to know what scheme she has in mind. It might come in handy some day. I can tell you one thing — she’s most unusual.”